Gan

All the Single Ladies...

2011-04-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

I've been going through all kinds of old papers lately and having had a rant on stats recently, thought this excerpt I found was funny-- I think it was also from Dr. Witesman. This is, indeed, a very strange-sounding rule. But mathematicians have proved it works better than any other. The number thirty-seven percent is an approximation of the exact number I/e, where e is the base for natural logarithms... of course this rule can't guarantee success, but, as Churchill said of democracy, it's the worst strategy except for all the others, and it gives you a thirty-seven percent probability of making the best decision. Here is one example. Suppose over a life-time you expect to meet one hundred available candidates. If you marry the first one, the chance that you have indeed found the best of all one hundred candidates is only 1/100. Likewise, if you wait to meet all one hundred candidates, you will have rejected ninety-nine who came before, and the possibility that the last person you meet is also the best is again only 1/100. The best strategies allow you to sample for a while, in order to learn about the various candidtes; and of all such strategies, the best has you samplling thirty-seven percent of the total and then choosing the first candidate thereafter who beats all the ones who came before. Of course, there is a chance you will never find one who is better than all thirty-seven percent you've already seen. So if you are a young woman who expects to meet one hundred attractive bachelors over her dating years, you should let the first thrity-seven of them go, and marry the first one you meet thereafter who is more attractive to you than all thirty-seven young men you have already dated. Now, don't you wish your mother would give you advice like that?

What have I become?

2011-03-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

Maybe a skeptic of the first class. Yikes. But seriously, I was not aware of this side effect of grad school. Stats and Eva's class, I believe, were the biggest culprit of turning me into a doubt-everything Thomas. For example, I saw the link for this article (http://utahdatapoints.com/2011/03/who-has-the-decisive-vote-in-the-utah-legislature/) earlier and when reading it, my immediate thoughts were whoa whoa whoa, hang on. You're arguing what?!

Anyway, now I want to discuss this. Are these stats valid? Do you think it really demonstrates power to have voted with the majority the most-- why wouldn't that show herd mentality? Anyone who's bored and wants to relive program eval, let me know :)

New Love

2011-03-13T23:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not particularly a Twilight fan-- the movies were fine but I never read any of the books. However, this song from the score is my new love. I think I've listened to it 25 times in a row on continuous play.

p.s. choose to ignore the sappy text in this video... or indulge-- whichever floats your boat :)

Keeper Recipe

2011-02-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

It was a long three months with no Southern Living inspiration, but my subscription is now renewed and the delivery problems sorted out :) Recommence the experimental recipes!

I tried this one on Ben and Suzannah and it was a success!

Chicken with Pecan Sauce
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup butter, divided
4 chicken cutlets (abt 1 1/4 lb)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried thyme

1. Heat pecans and 2 Tbsp butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low until toasted and fragrant. Remove from skillet.
2. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour.
3. Cook chicken in hot oil in skillet over medim heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown and done. Transfer to a serving platter. Top with pecans.
4. Add chicken broth to skillet, and cook 2 minutes, stirring to losen particles from bottom of skillet. Add brown sugar, vinegar, and thyme, and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar is melted and sauce is slightly thickened. Whisk in remaining 2 Tbsp butter. Serve sauce over chicken.

*All that butter isn't necessary. I left the butter from toasting the nuts in the skillet to cook the chicken. I also would not add more to the sauce at the end. And I added more nuts-- can't have too many pecans!

Abject, pleading apologies

2011-02-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Karma,

I am sorry. Dog ran away again and I crashed into a snow bank. Was that really necessary? It was just a blog post.

Sincerely,
Gan

Warning: the following images may be unsuitable for queezier readers

2011-02-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

It took me about a month before I could look back and laugh at the experience. Then literally the day I was looking through pictues and thought about making a blog post about it, I come home and the dang dog ran away. Knock on wood, nothing will happen if I post this now. But as some of you know, I had an attempt at ambidextrousness earlier this year after an incident with my housemate, Alphonzo. My first week dogsitting was a little traumatic, but I got pretty good at using the touch mouse and washing my hair with my left hand. The good news: we get along well now. He loves to sing while I play the piano. I just don't pet him :)

P.S. I attempted to play around the template of my blog. Big mistake. I want an undo button.

Because I'm INTJ, that's why.

2011-01-16T01:29:00.000-08:00

So when I visited DC several weeks ago, one of my favorite things was Heather, Sarah, Lindi, and Connie's consistent application of their Myers-Briggs personality profiles in everyday banter. Like we would be talking about something like work styles and Lindi would pipe in "that's your P-ness showing through." Or Heather would talk about her pursuit of a certain young man and Connie would respond, "you're such a I!"

While there, I retook the test and got the same result I have gotten every time I've taken it since high school: INTJ. Usually when I've taken the test before, it was as a school assignment and while the fast glimpse I took at my profile was interesting and fitting, I never studied it in-depth... until the past few days while continuing this anxiety-ridden, soul-searching, journey of self discovery that has been the past few months. Appropos timing, yes? I thought so too.

And oddly what I've found in my search has been empowering, reassuring, and, I believe, a contributing factor to the end of my cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat phase (hooray!). Nearly every link under the Google search "INTJ" is now purple. I also found a forum where other INTJ's post about their experiences, historical figures with whom they relate, and their personality tendencies and I find myself thinking "oh my heck, you are articulating what I've always felt but never been able to explain and you feel the same way! I'm not such a weirdo." (incidentally, expressing internal insights or emotion is not a strong-suit of my profile).

Interesting fact: less than 1 percent of the population are considered INTJ-- the majority of which are men. I know that we all have felt at some point that we are 'weird,' but reading that alone I guess justified in my mind some of the 'differentness' I have always felt. Also interestingly, I am very logical (check), I view the world in terms of opportunity for improvement and increased efficiency (check), I prefer privacy to crowds of people (check), I primarily value intelligence and competence in myself and others (check), I abhor small talk but find it a necessary social nicety... and am usually bad at it (check!), my quietness is often mistaken for arrogance or boredom... but in actuality seldom feel these things (check), I am largely an observer (yep), I value organization and try to put everything into a rational system (just ask any former roommate), I am not very demonstrative of affection/ emotion (yes), I find gratification in implementing systems and work (check), and I feel satisfaction when decisions are made (hello! welcome to my predicament of the last 2.5 months).

I guess the moral of this post is, if you haven't taken the Myers-Briggs, dooooo iiiit. Maybe you're not on a search for validation and self-discovery as I am, but maybe you are. And maybe this too will help you make some sense of things (look, there goes my logical side again :) ).

Look, Grandma, it's finally done!

2011-01-11T09:12:00.001-08:00

It has been a project about 5 years in the making, but one week of the cold bug and I was able to make some progress.

En la Onda

2010-12-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Social media: a fad or a revolution?

As always, take the statistics with a grain of salt as to source and bias, but overall this video is very fascinating!

Roller Coasters

2010-12-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

I remember as a little girl going to Lagoon and my dad never going on the rollercoasters because they made him "toss his cookies." Now at amusement parks, I feel the same stomach-churning sensation on these loop-da-loops... so as a grown up, we're supposed to not be on these rollercoasters, but why then as I feel I am on the cusp of my "grown-up" life do I feel like I am on this continual roller coaster? Starting in August, I was at a high coming home from a life-changing China experience, then the realization of officially graduating, Grandma's death, and such took me to a low. September: low to high. October: chicken-with-my-head-cut-off mostly highs. November: high high to low low. It seems I've run the gamut the past few months. Lest you think I'm becoming a manic depressive, don't worry, I'm just trying to navigate this "most exciting time of my life." :)

So I set off on a job exploration/soul-searching week of fun in DC. Exactly what I needed. To share some of the fun highlights, a few pictures:

So beautiful.

Merry Christmas from the White House!

Christmas display at the Botanical Gardens

As I reflect on my figurative fork in the road, I realize how blessed I am. With a solid foundation of faith, family, and friends how could I possibly be better set up for this ride? In this season of Thanksgiving and Salvation, I feel incredibly grateful. So here's to enjoying the ride and plenty of dramamine to settle the stomach :)

P.S. If it seems like my head is in the clouds.... it is. Being able to blog from 30,000 is totally increasing my productivity.

Christmas Came Early this Year :)

2010-11-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report Election Day went well yesterday! I always love watching the results come in, but this year I have expanded gratitude for the democratic republic I am privileged to enjoy citizenship in. Is it perfect? Certainly not, but I believe in its greatness and Election Day, for the most part, usually reaffirms that.

Now... to clean my car. Does anyone have any tips for deodorizing? It smells like an industrial print house from signs, mailers, and tshirts.

7 days!!!!! Just sayin'

2010-10-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

Since it's Christmasesque weather (really?! seriously?!) and I started listening to The Forgotten Carols on Sunday, my Christmas wish is that one week from now I am leaving a fabulous victory party :) Then I wish that I get to sleep for a long time the next day... and if I've really been a good girl, that my car gets magically cleared of all the logo-covered debris that currently occupies nearly every square inch!

Yay!!!!

For the Beauty of the Earth...

2010-10-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't fall spectacular?! I've had a couple opportunities to explore this colorful season this week and what strikes me most is that while I have been so lucky the past few years to see some amazing things, even more than the world's wonders, what never ceases to amaze me is the natural beauty everywhere.

Where it's at:

Nanputuo Temple, China

(moss growing on rocks) Hong Kong

Cotswalds, England

Cherry Blossoms on the National Mall, DC

Guilin, China

Reed Flute Cave, China

Xiamen, China

Mueller Park, UT

Watkins Glen, NY

Monticello, VA

Bryce Canyon, UT

Legacy

2010-10-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

Legacy. To me, the word initially conjured images of baseball legends and leaders of societal movements. I recently finished Glenn Beck's new novel, The Overton Window (I need to stop with the doomsday books and movies!) which I found very thought provoking. One of the takeaways was a contemplation of an older character who ironically was plotting to overthrow the American societal order and move it toward a powercentric, contrived order. While his end is not one I condone, his realization that despite all the money and power he had earned, the only things that are really important are his time and his legacy was interesting.

For my Grandma Ossmen's funeral, we had a service largely based around music, as it was one of my Grandma's loves/ joys. During and since the funeral, I have pondered how I consider music to be my Grandma's legacy to me because my learning to play the piano and participation in singing groups all my young life, I believe, are directly attributable to her love for and participation in music.

Over the past very busy campaign month, I have found myself resorting to playing the piano and quilting for brief relaxing moments of reprieve. Quilting is another legacy left to me, this one by my Grandma Selin. Her entrepreneurship in quilting brought an art back to not only a lot of people in the Atlanta region, but my dad's extended family as well... and me. I remember trips to Grandma's quilt shop in Stone Mountain since I was very young and remember picking out the fabric for my first "big" quilt with her.

Legacy is an interesting concept. It is awe-inspiring to think of all the things in my life that are directly attributable to my ancestors, forebears, or even peers. It's a significant part-- if not the majority-- of who I am. It's so fascinating to think that so much of who we are comes from where we come from. And thinking to the future, no pressure as to what you [or I] will leave :)

A Funny :)

2010-09-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

Have you read Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High? Good book.

And sage advice :)

Thanks, Jasen!

For Your Pondering

2010-09-27T09:30:00.001-07:00

"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" T.S. Eliot

I came across this quote this morning. Interesting, poignant thought.

2010-09-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

Last week I crossed one more state off of my list of states I have been to: Florida! I had a wonderful trip with Michelle and Melaina. And Florida is a great place-- Governor Charlie Crist, no income tax, a good percentage of humidity (in Sept at least), and gorgeous coasts-- yep, I could get used to that!

We had a fun-packed vacation with two days at Disneyworld, one day at SeaWorld's Aquatica, one day at Clearwater Beach, and one day of shopping-- perfect vacation mix.

Here are some picture highlights:

Clearwater Beach is just beautiful. The blue, blue water and white sand are great. Little wonder it is ranked America's best beach. We had fun exploring the boardwalk in John's Pass too.

Magic Kingdom was adorably decorated for Halloween. Michelle and Melaina at the entrance.

Epcot is my definite favorito! I loved the country exhibits. And the fireworks show, which definitely helped me compensate for a fireworks-less 4th of July this year.

SeaWorld's Aquatica waterpark is so, so fun! This is us in front of the dolphin tank that has clear waterslides that go through it. If only I wasn't screaming with my eyes shut during that part of the slide, I might have seen them :)

"I look once more, just around the Riverbend." We met Pocahontas, and that song was stuck in my head for the rest of the day :) All part of the Disney spirit.

At the Orlando Airport after just arriving in Florida around midnight. It was late and we were excited.

Epcot took me back to China! Only in this China, I could still have my cell phone-- halelujia! And it smelled better sans stinky tofu.

This just never gets old!

Abundantly Creative

2010-09-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

Lately my desire to be like Amy Atlas has been piqued even further (Rach, I blame/credit you for introducing the blog to me first) :) Maybe this is sufficient cause to change my career path? If it means going back to school, yes please :) I've been so happy lately to get to do a couple creative things. First was Amber's bridal shower. I pulled some inspirations from the Amy Atlas site and overall was pleased with how it all came together-- it wasn't exactly what I envisioned, but really does anything ever turn out that way?

Then last weekend, Zan invited me to for a girls' night and taught me how to use fondant. I've wanted to learn for so long. And the chance to learn from Zan, whom I credit with being my first baking teacher way back in Heritage, was even better. Here is our cake that we created. I use the term "cake" loosely becauase it's actually only about 2/5 actual cake.

(that may or may not be a measuring cup serving as a cake prop... Zan's genius idea!)

Mei Guo was my name

2010-09-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time I embarked on the adventure of a lifetime and headed to China. I've shared most my Hong Kong adventures-- which was fabulous and my favorite city visited in Asia. The part I didn't get to (and my favorite experience) is when we were invited to lunch at Asia Area President Perkin's home. The view of the bay was incredibly beautiful, but talking to President Perkins and hearing about the Church's work in Asia was even better.

After Hong Kong, we flew to Shanghai and experienced the 2010 World Expo and the downtown area.

Then the study abroad part started. We lived in Xiamen-- an island in southern Fujian province across the bay from Taiwan. We attended Xiamen University, learning about performance measurement and Chinese government history and structure. We also spent nearly every weekend of two months traveling around China with adventures to Nanjing, Suzhou, Guilin, Yanshuo, Tulou, Xi'an, Wuyishan, and Beijing. We had so many fun experiences; I will share some of my favorites through pictures:

China has an amazing history. I thoroughly loved learning about it, yet still have a lot more to discover. We were able to see a lot of the places that served as the government centers including Nanjing and Beijing. (this is at Tiananmen Square)

Go figure there are a whole lot of Chinese people in China. And we stuck out like nobody's business. We got so many requests for pictures that I'm certain if we had charged 10 yuan per picture, we could have funded someone's China trip :)

We took two sleeper train rides through the country and saw beautiful vistas like this rice patty out of our windows for much of it!

Wow. That' s how I would sum up the terra cotta warriors. The portion that has been unearthed is amazing itself, but did you know that this is a mere fraction of what experts believe Emperor Qin Shi Huang's complete tomb consists of? It's incredible to fathom.

These wonders of the world were just as their status indicates-- awe inspiring. The Great Wall of China definitely qualifies. It is so much steeper and taller than I imagined, as well as in much more rugged terrain as it scales very steep hills. It is awesome to imagine how it was built hundreds of years ago-- all 3,000+ miles of it!

Aside from bedbugs (which we unfortunately experienced), cicadas were the insect bane of my existence. They were so prevelent in Xiamen that there was always a constant hum. Luckily, Chinese women have the custom of carrying umbrellas and that was useful to shield the mystery drips from the trees. On their backs is how I wanted to forever remember them :)

China is a beautiful country and one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever seen is Guilin. It was once underwater, which formed the amazing mountains. We took a cruise down the Li River and got to take in this gorgeousness for 4 incredible hours.

The food was... interesting. We definitely all had bouts with everything that can be categorized as "stomach problems." This is Jennica, Heather C, and I in front of a restaurant-- not an aquarium as you may have thought. Our foot-high ice cream cones is more of a tourist fare on Gulang Yu, but I thought the combo was a good one.

I thought the food merited two pictures. Any guesses to what is on this plate? At first we thought some creature from the sea, but alas, it is a platter of duck tongues. No need to even ask-- heck no I did not try it!

We had some great tongxues (classmates) at Xiamen Da Xue! This is my project team: Talia, Sweety, me, and Juliette. We had a lot of fun outside of class too with movie nights, KTV, and learning Tai Chi.

We literally pretty much lived on the beach. While it's not one you would probably opt to swim in, it was gorgeous and we enjoyed many a walk and tandem bike ride along the boardwalk.

In sum, I am so happy to have had this chance of a lifetime! Who'd have ever thought I would go to China-- not me! My time there definitely broadened my perspective of the world and I have a new appreciation for my Mei Guo life.

Chi Guai (That's Weird)

2010-06-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

Day 4: We still have not ever taken a watch with us on any of our adventures (which has been kind of liberating when not stressing about not knowing what time it is), but we’re having the time of our lives. So, today we got into the elevator and a Chinese couple made fun of us thinking we couldn’t understand them and they were right…..about three of us. Sarah turned to them and asked them in Chinese where they were from. :) Their jaws dropped a little bit, it was pretty funny!

Then we walked to the Hong Kong Temple from our hotel. It is closed for cleaning until tomorrow, but it was neat to walk around the grounds and enjoy the courtyard (Jerusalem courtyard-ish feeling). It was a nice 45-minute walk up Waterloo Road. It was neat to see the road change from busy markets to more of a residential and school zone. The temple was beautiful!! It seems different to me than the official church picture-- much smaller and a little different color-- but it is gorgeous. We also saw the stake center/ chapel being built across the street. It is supposed to be done and dedicated within the next couple weeks.

Then we went to a massive monastery with 10,000 Bhudda statues. It was pretty amazing. We walked up about 1,000 steps (again in the humidity). There were so many life-size Bhuddas lining the walkway. Some looked like Satan, some like Dumbledore, some like Magellan, some with very distinct Indian flare. We went to a whole bunch of different courtyards, saw lots of burning incense, gifts of fruit, etc. One room up at the very top had at least 10,000 small Bhuddas just in one room. They were doing construction at the top so we had to go down to hike all the way back up to another area. We also saw a family of monkeys jumping off a hut into a tree (pretty sure this is my first time seeing a monkey not in captivity-- pretty cool). It was HOT! We tried to hike up to a cemetery up at the top of the hill, but it got a little jungly and slippery and muddy. We didn’t see any other tourists at all and thought it would be best to turn around.

There was a mall near the metro stop, so we got McDonalds soft serve ice cream cones. They have never tasted more delicious. We have stopped at home to refresh from the hot day and then our plan is to go see the lights of the city and the light show across the Hong Kong Harbor tonight!

Pictures from the first few days

2010-06-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

Hiking down Victoria Peak. Humid.

Foggy view from Victoria Peak.

Heading to church. Seth, me, Sarah, Heather. Had to get a picture before getting all sweaty gross.

Heather and Seth in Kowloon Park (kinda like Central Park)

Hong Kong Harbor from Kowloon side

Me and Seth having a little fun in Vancouver Airport

Whole gang on Vncouver subway. Me, Sarah, Seth, Heather

Seattle was fantastic-- I could totally live there. Seth, me, Sarah near Pike's Place Market.

2010-06-14T01:36:00.000-07:00

Nihao from Hong Kong!

Just want to let you know I arrived safely in Hong Kong. We had fantastic stopovers in Seattle and Vancouver with whirlwind tours of both cities. It was a long day. In Seattle we went to Pike's Place Market and in Vancouver we explored the harbor and downtown area for a little bit. We tried to find the Olympic venues, but most were disappointing or not easy enough for us to get to. And I survived the 13-hour flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong :) Actually the flight was fairly productive as I organized 6 years worth of photos plus all my school files! It really has been amazing how well everything has worked out on this trip!

HONG KONG is AMAZING!!!! :) We've had a flurry of activity and experienced what most tourists would only experience in a week. We arrived in Hong Kong about 6:00 am local time. We were able to catch the train to Kowloon (other side of the harbor from Hong Kong where we are staying) and an airport shuttle (that was an adventure) that serendipitously had a stop at a hotel directly across from where we're staying. I was awe-struck at my first sights of Asia. It is very beautiful, green, and HUMID!! I've never sweat so much in my life and my hair is barely shoulder-length since it's curled up so much. It is a complete "mass of humanity" as mom would say :) Definitely high-density population. I'm especially amazed by all the apartment buildings-- they are so tall, but so thin. And dad would love this-- the construction "scaffolding" is all made of bamboo poles strung together. It looks a little precarious to have buildings supported by bamboo, but I guess is very strong.

Saturday morning we checked in, showered, and got cleaned up. Then off for a day of sight-seeing. We ventured down Nathan Road (famous shopping district-- Michelle and Natalie would love, minus the insane humidity) to the Hong Kong harbor. The harbor is beautiful and you can see the tall building Batman jumps off in Dark Knight. We were "surveyed' by some elementary school children practicing their English and they gave us postcards as souvenirs-- so cute! We walked down the Star Walk (HK version of Chinese Grummen Theater walk) and visited the modern art museum (mostly for the air conditioning, but I was excited). We tried a fairly hole-in-the-wall Japanese place for dinner. I have duly noted that "seafood" as an adjective entails a different combination here than it probably would at home, including octopus, eel, and a couple other things I didn't recognize and would probably be better not knowing anyway. On our walk back, we explored the Kowloon Park which is like Central Park, Chinese-style and explored a jade market. A lady tried to rip me off by selling me a fake pearl pendant. Pshh, I know what I'm looking for :) We also made a 7-11 run (luckily there are three per block) to stock up on water. I think it was probably about an hour before I was totally out at about 7:00. Granted, I probably had a total of 6 hours of sleep in the previous two days. Our hard-as-a-board beds couldn't have felt better :)

Today (Sunday) has been amazing! We attended an English branch in Hong Kong in a beautiful church building-- it reminds me of the Manhattan Temple/chapel. As we were on the subway, looking like confused tourists searching our map, a girl approached and asked if we were going to church. She showed up the way :) During Sunday School 4 of our Xiamen group showed up-- they've been here since Thurs and leave tomorrow for the Public Administration conference-- which was fun. After church, a sister invited us to her home for lunch with the other Young Single Adults. Turns out she is the wife of Asia Area President (which area that covers more than half the world's population--India, China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.)! They live in an apartment on the south part of Hong Kong island with a Beautiful view of the bay. We had a fabulous lunch of chicken fajitas (so grateful for familiar food after yesterday!) and met many people from all over the world. We chatted with President Perkins afterward and it turns out he was mission companions with Governor Huntsman (who we're trying to visit while in Beijing) and also gave us a great contact for someone to talk to for a perspective of Asian government relations that will hopefully pan out!

After lunch, we took a taxi to the top of Victoria Peak. Unfortunately it was very foggy, but we could see a small portion of the Hong Kong skyline. There is a mall at the top of the mountain and we enjoyed some great piano entertainment. We took the walking trail down the mountain and it totally felt like we were in a jungle. It was very mystically foggy, jungly, and beautiful. Oh and did I mention the humidity? Yeah, it's hot. Pictures to come, but I must say, they don't capture the majesty and beauty. The trail was really steep, but a fun walk. At the bottom of the mountain, we ended up in a city botanical garden with zoo-like exhibits-- so cool. We made it back to our hotel-- we're getting our bearings.

So, tomorrow we're going to go check out the Temple (our Temple) and then Ten Thousand Bhuddas Temple and do a little more exploring around the area. It has been an AWESOME trip so far! My fears that Asia would be too foreign and inaccessible have been dashed and I'm totally loving it here!

Quick Update

2010-06-10T23:35:00.000-07:00

The adventure has officially begun! I am sitting in the Vancouver airport, awaiting an endurance-testing 13-hour flight to Hong Kong :). I hope to be able to post pictures and updates to this blog, but have heard it rumored that blogspot is blocked in China.... we'll see.

As a start, today I left Salt Lake around 7:30 am and arrived in Seattle. I'd never been to Seattle before and my impression of the city is resounding approval! We visited Pike's Place Market and I got to see the live version of the motivational organizational behavior movie I have seen about 3 times. I love outdoor markets like that. After that layover, I had the best 20 minute flight of my life to Vancouver. Vancouver is gorgeous. While I was somewhat disappointed in the city, the airport is fabulous and gorgeous!

PS. Please excuse any grammatical errors. I have now accumulated 2.5 hrs of sleep in 48 hours... all in the pursuit of being able to sleep through this 13 hour confinement :) Wish me luck.

Finishing Up

2010-05-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

You know the feeling of being sick of being sick? That's me. Since my typhoid vaccine, I don't know if my immune system was just extra-susceptible, but I think I got the cold I'd been trying to stave off since finals week. At least the snowy weather this morning makes me feel a little less out-of-season.

The up-side to sick days/weeks is cathcing up on stuff... here's the post I began a couple weeks ago:

Whew. So the time period from March 19 until now feels like it lasted 3... maybe 4 weeks yet at the same time seems like years ago. So much has happened!

March 19 began the work on a new campaign. Since then, I also finished up school group projects, participated in the UCMA competition in St. George, took finals, graduated from grad school and celebrated a little, said farewells to so many wonderful friends (only after partying with an over-abundance of nacho cheese and in a castle-- not at the same party), welcomed another "niece" who will also have the nickname Gan, went on the job hunt-- though not diligently enough, finalized China trip plans like getting airfare and visa stuff done, moved home, and made it through a successful GOP convention! Some picture highlights...

MPA Closing Social Ball

Romney love at Amy & Billy's Wedding

Today I read I book that I chose! I've missed that :)

Oh Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun

2010-04-05T20:51:00.000-07:00

Dear St. George:

I am disappointed. Your reputation is being sunny and warm but you are anything but. I have been looking forward to this getaway for weeks so please have great, sunny weather tomorrow. I know it will bring us good luck in Jeopardy! :)

Yours truly,
Megan

P.S. Thank you for only being rainy and not blizzard-like as was the rest of the state on the drive down.

Living Color

2010-03-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Wow, I feel super efficient :) I accomplished #1 on my list yesterday: the Festival of Colors. What a blast! We ended up leaving Provo fairly late and parked pretty far from the temple, but luckily a car who pulled off at the same time we did let us all pile in the back seat. Despite passing several cops, none said anything about 5 of us in the back. We made it just about on time to the temple. We caught the tail-end of the pre-show band and were in the middle of the crowd for the cloud of colors. The downside to the experience? Purple snot-- but I consider this akin to my smurf feet, hands, elbows, and knees after True Blue football-- lasting evidence of the fun :)

The whole time during the festival, I kept thinking that the advertising execs at Wrigley really need to know about this event. Everywhere you looked there were clean smiles like in their commercials. Or maybe the Sony Bravia people could do another super cool ad like the bouncy balls and paint with something like this! Now I have the urge to watch that video... thank goodness for YouTube.

P.S. Ok, I'm back. After fulfilling my craving for the bouncy balls, I discovered Sony is ahead of me and already did a Holi festival ad found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXhh6QdgeGQ&feature=related. I knew I was on to something.

Fun Time

2010-03-25T22:03:00.001-07:00

I blogged before about my "fun class" I am taking this semester: landscape design. Well I'm sad to report I have all but dropped out. Too many big projects and stuff going on. So while everyone is handing in their final projects, I really haven't started :) But I did go to class today and while lecture was basically canceled, it was so worth it because it was free flower day again! So for the past hour I've taken a mental health break and arranged what I picked up. I'm feeling a lot better :) Also, since my class was canceled, I fulfilled something on my To-Do list: I sat by the BYU duck pond for the first time. I know, it's far overdue-- like six years. But it was great. While there I also brainstormed a list of things I need to do in the next month in Provo. They include:

Festival of Colors (no excuses and/or distractions this year)
JDawgs trip with the group formerly known as Trofast
Hike the Y-- I'm thinking graduation day
Find a dress for the MPA ball. Yes, a real ball :) In a castle. Three guesses as to who is planning it
Trips to the creamery (much improved since there are now more than 3 flavors to choose from)
Sleepover in the MPA lounge

I'm open to additional suggestions of must-do's before moving out of Happy Valley for the final time.

In other news: caucuses were Tuesday. What a fabulous system and great experience. I was thrilled and enthused by the turnout and get-involved sentiment exhibited by so many! Campaigns are going fast and furiously; but I'm totally loving it. I went to the presentation by General Petraeus at BYU today. I was very impressed and am in awe of what our armed forces do in service for all us Americans. Weeks are flying, final project deadlines approaching too soon, and I graduate in one month minus two days!!!

News Junkie is my middle name

2010-03-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

If I had a middle name, that is. But I do love news. I've been catching up tonight on like 4 weeks of Business Week, Fortune, and The Week-- that's what tends to happen with many tasks during the Session. But there have been some notable articles so I figure this is my outlet to share (don't let your eyes glaze over!)

"Bored to Death"

"Boredome may be fatal, a new study says. British researchers analyzed a survey of 7,500 civil servants in London who were asked if they'd felt bored at work. Following up, the researchers found that by April 2009, the workers who'd said they'd been very bored were two and a half times more likely than the non-bored workers to have died of heart problems."
What's scary about this? The fact that it was a civil servant survey (sufficient cause to rethink my line of work?). AND that these researchers had to process 7,500 surveys-- I would not want on that statistics team!

"China's Garlic Bubble Hits the U.S."

"The price of garlic is up 605% from a year ago. Blame a market glut that led China to cut output by half, along with swine flu fear that caused demand for its antibiotic properties to soar. There's no futures market for the bulbous herb, but that didn't stop speculators from buying it up and further driving up prices."
Seriously? Buying up garlic? Why? Where would you put it all? I hope they simultaneously bought stock in breath mint companies.

Random

2010-03-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

That word summarizes well the feeling of my life right now. Have you ever stood at the divergence of two paths that could both potentially alter your life course-- but you're not the one making the decision? That's kinda how I feel right now and I can't decide if it's better or worse than being the one posed with the decision. As a person who shies at big life choices, it's kind of strange that I can't bear to wait until I know which path I'll be heading down when I should probably feel relief that I don't have to choose. Anyway, I don't mean to be so cryptic, but stay tuned for updates soon (hopefully!)

Since I'm on the topic of random, here is a quote that is given in the newest BBC version of Emma (love it!! see it.) "The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there." I know several of my last posts have been a little on the nostalgic, sappy side, but again, this quote is very appropos as I look back at my experience at BYU and realize how I'm a completely different person than when I arrived as a freshman. I've thought of all the different roommates, experiences, frustrations, etc. I've had over the past six years and I honestly am grateful for all of them!

And just for a good round-out of random and added visual interest, here is one of my favorite pictures from the 2010 Legislative session. This photographer is much braver than I would be. I know the picture doesn't capture it adequately, but his ladder is poised on the landing of a large set of marble stairs as well as just in front of that gap between the stairrail with another very hard marble floor on the level beneath. I LOVE the capitol.

Sweet Southern Comfort

2010-03-07T19:12:00.000-08:00

A while ago I subscribed to the magazine Southern Living in an attempt to "rescue" my SkyMiles from expiring. While the incitement was less than pleasing, I have always loved that magazine and look forward every month to a rekindling of my love for everything charmingly Southern. I must say that my yearning for silver mint julip cups is getting a little ridiculous-- they would just be the most fabulous decoration overflowing with gardenia or azalea blossoms :) I may need to move to the South here in the near future...

Every month there are tantalizing recipes. Today I finally tried Traditional (mama's way) lemon bars. In a word: delicious! Here is the recipe should you want to try it-- I would highly recommend it.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup cold butter, cut into pieces

4 large eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp. lemon zest

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp. baking powder

powdered sugar

1. Preheat over to 350. Line bottom adn sides of a 13x9" pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, allowing 2 to 3 inches to extend over sides; lightly grease foil

2. Stir together 2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Press mixture onto bottom of prepared pan.

3. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned

4. Meanwhile, whisk eggs in a large bowl until smooth; whisk in ganulated sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir together baking powder and remaining 1/4 cup flour; whisk into egg mixture. Pour mixture over hot baked crust.

5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes of until filling is set. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 30 minutes. Lift from pan, using foil sides as handles. Cool completely on a wire rack. Remove foil, and cut into bars; sprinkle with powdered sugar.

52 Days til Graduation!!!

2010-03-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

I love that my friend Kadi is keeping a countdown.

Yesterday I was talking to my mom while looking through a class catalog.

Me: [clutching my heart] Ugh, it gives me anxiety to think that I won't be in classes anymore!
Mom: Psh, the thought of being in classes is what gives me anxiety.

Story of my life for all those of you who know my embarrassing 1st grade story :)

Pontificating...

2010-02-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

I love working at the Legislature. It's so exciting and I have this part of me that being involved in government really makes happy-- if that seems weird, no worries; I don't think my parents get it either.

Yesterday I was sitting in a committee listening to a bill proposed to create a special entity license plate (like the ones you see with a bus or purple heart or BYU logo). It was definitely for a worthy cause. But while the bill was being presented I was thinking 'is this the best way for this organization to garner funds and support? I don't think it is. There are many other strategies that would be much more cost-effective. As the bill sponsor ended, she gave a very compelling (but not convincing) testimony that this is not the best way to help this organization-- funding it would-- but it is something the state can do to help. Then she made the comment: "Should government be the repository for all good ideas? Yes!"

I've been thinking about that statement a lot. Should government? I would say no. It seems private business would be better waters to test. But to what degree is government already that repository? When an inventor comes up with a brilliant idea, he must patent it-- through the government.

I haven't finished thinking about this-- that's part of why I want to record it so I can remember. But if anyone has any comments, please share.

"Be yourself and let the world take notice..."

2010-02-22T22:44:00.000-08:00

I'm totally one of those people who "plays a song to death" when it's my favorite. Well my favorite right now is this song from the new version of Fame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsIqcyGrgR4&feature=related

It may be that graduation is approaching and I love the message of this song as the class in the movie graduates as well. I find the first lines so true: "Countless hours of learning more. Countless hours of knowing less." One of the ironies of learning-- you actually learn how much you don't know.

The movie is pretty good as well. The performances are amazing and we all know I'm a sucker for a good musical :)

2010-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Two things today:

Number 1:

As I'm in my last semester at BYU, I am finally taking the 'fun classes' I have wanted to do my 6 years spent here. I am taking Landscape Design and loving it. The added bonus: Thursday during our break I walk into the hallway and there are buckets with a sign 'Free flowers. Take as many as you want.' Yay. I did and here's what I got... unfortunately I couldn't squeeze the Floral Design class in or it might be a better arrangement. I think my last two flower posts may indicate I'm ready for spring!

Number 2:

Lately it seems a lot of figurative doors have been opening and closing. It actually makes me excited :) My favorite: I am about 90% sure this is where I'll be living this summer....

Xiamen University in China. The MPA program is starting a study abroad program to work with local Chinese governments. This is me jumping up and down inside :) !!!

In case it's as blustery and cold where you are as Provo is now...

2010-01-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

I got these today and their bright cheerfulness is making me happy, and I want to share that with you :)

I Jumped the Pond!

2010-01-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

I'm obviously slow to post even my most exciting info. This past summer my mom and I visited Zan and Ben while they lived in London. Here's my post that's partially so I can feel like I've completed something from my to-do list and partially to reminisce. Thanks for indulging me :)

This trip of a lifetime began with a day in New York City. I love NY! Home of Broadway, Wall Street, and the best pizza! Mom and I had a great day touring Liberty and Ellis Island, enjoying front row seats to The Little Mermaid, and reveling in the excitement of Times Square. It made the sleepless nights at Newark airport so worth it.

[Very] early the next morning, we departed for London! Honestly, it scared me to fly over the ocean. But I must say, I much prefer international to domestic flights-- hands down, so much better. On the way, I saw an aerial view of the cliffs of Wales and Windsor Castle. We landed at Heathrow around 8:00 pm London time. We navigated the airport and London Tube and arrived at the Westmister station in time for a torrential downpour. Seriously, it was like a river into the Tube station. But I was super excited to see the quintessential sites of London and insisted we go out the furthest exit just to see Big Ben. I was not disappointed and happy my first sight of the city was an illuminated night scene. We were able to find Ben & Zan's ideally-located flat fairly easily. I have to say that between her great hospitality and keeping the idea of visiting London alive in my head, I totally owe this experience of a lifetime to Zan!

Day 1: Our first venture was to the half-price tickets booth at Gloucester Square (our priority was pretty apparent). Next was a walking tour of the royal gardens. They really are lovely! We caught a glimpse of the changing of the Buckingham Palace guard and then toured Westminster Abbey. The abbey really is spectacular. As a general observation, I have to say that everything in London is OLD. It truly makes our American antiquities look like babies. We did a fast walk-through of the British Museum. Our first day was topped off with traditional English fish and chips (underexceeded expectations) and a performance of Billy Elliot (far and away exceeded expectations). We took a chance in picking that show as neither of us knew much about it other than it won musical of the year, but I'm happy to report, we came out winners on that one :)

Day 2: I fondly remember this as "Jane Austen Day." While it was hectic and last-minute getting our transportion to the city of Bath, it worked out. We found available bus tickets, which afforded a much-needed and welcome sleep opportunity. Jet lag is rough. And we made it to Bath. It was different than what I expected-- I had envisioned a small, quaint village, but it was a bustling tourist hub. It still wreaked of Austenesque Enlish charm. Mom and I caught our tourbus to Stone Henge and enjoyed a narrated guide of the English countryside. Stone Henge is amazing. Seeing it is awe-inspiring (and might I add conspiracy theory inducing). Our tour also took us to Lacock Village where BBC's Pride & Prejudice was filmed as well as parts of the Harry Potter movies. I saw the house where Harry's parents were killed with my own eyes. My one regret about Bath is that I did not get to see the Royal Crescent or the Jane Austen visitor center. Guess that means I will just have to go back someday, right?

Day 3: Sunday in London. Zan, mom, and I enjoyed a walk through Kensington gardens on the way to church. The ward is located just south of the park. After church, we checked out the Vitorian and Albert museum conveniently located just south of the church and were amazed at the collection of furniture, tapestries, jewels, and artwork. I love museums.

Day 4: Zan & Lydia joined us for a great boat trip down the Thames to Greenwich. Even though it's a river, the Thames is a big character in several Dickens stories so I was excited to spend some quality time on it. The Thames really has been a lifebood throughout London's history, so there are many amazing and notable sites that can be seen on its shores. Greenwich is also a great location. I stood in two hemispheres at the same time on the Prime Meridian. I also loved the observatory view, Maritime museum, and olde-time candy shop. Oh yeah, and the meringue cookie that was as big as my head.

Day 5: The thought of flying over the ocean didn't thrill me, but neither did passing through an underwater tunnel, but I did. Mom and I took the Chunnel to Paris. This was mom's dream. I have to admit that I was fairly apprehensive about visiting France because of the stories I had heard about Parisians hating American tourists and because I knew exactly two French phrases (au revoir and bonjour). I guess three if you count the French lesson from Friends (je m'appelle Claude-- that would get you far!) :) But I was pleasantly surprised. The French people we intereacted with were all so patient, friendly, and helpful, even though we acted like silly Americans, I'm sure. My favorite thing was whenever we told a Parisian we were from Utah, so many of them replied, "oh yeah, I've been there before when I went to Las Vegas" I find it hilarious that Utah is a stop on the world tour trip to Vegas.

Day 6: Paris site-seeing. First stop had to be the Eiffel tower. When we were on the subway, I remember asking my mom if she thought the real one would be bigger than the Las Vegas version. Um, definite affirmative. Much bigger. We also saw Notre Dame, various [incredibly]old churches, botanical gardens, and the Louvre. Now one of my aims in this Europe trip was to see as many things on the 'Things to See Before I Die' list from my AP Art History class. I even lugged my notebook half way around the world. My funny Louvre story is that as I was intently focused on my map in the midst of Babylonian artifacts, I heard someone call my name. I look up and who should it be, but my fellow MPA'er, Heather Pack! Yeah, seriously, running into a familiar face in Paris-- Provo is a small world even outside of Provo.

Day 7: What is the best way to truly experience the French culture? I would argue watching Disney Channel in French. No, not really, but Mom and I took a much-needed morning of relaxation and slept in/lounged that morning. From French tv, I learned that two American things are bigger in France than they are in America: Hannah Montana and Obama. After checking out, we explored the area along Champs Elysees. We found a fantastic market and had a little French feast picnic with every quintessential French food we could find (quiche, cordon bleu, baguette, brie). We walked down the high-end fashion street, saw the Tour de France finish line, and gawked at the Paris Opera House before catching our return Chunnel ride. For the record, if you ever take the chunnel, it's so worth the extra 10 euros to upgrade the class. We did it only because they were the only tickets left, but wow, the ride was so much better.

Day 8: Tour of the Tower of London. One of the most haunted places as well the home of the royal jewels. Those were spectacular. We tried a traditional Enlgish meal of ale pie with mush peas. Surprisingly tasty. We squeezed in some last minute London sites like the Globe Theater, St. Paul's Cathedral (my fav-- I love Bernini's style), and a walk across the Millenium Bridge. When Ben was off work, we headed to Heathrow to pick up our rental car and drove to the Cotswolds. I didn't drive, but it was still an experience. Thanks to Ben's expert driving and the constant GPS reminder to stay on the left side of the road, we made it to our Bed & Breakfast.

Day 9: Awoke to a traditional Enlgish breakfast. Delicious, but it took me a minute to get over the fact they served baked beans for breakfast. I was not adventurous enough to try the "black pudding." We explored several Cotswolds villages with Rick Steves' writings as our guide. This was my favorite part of the trip. The Cotswolds is an area of villages that were once fluorishing wool industry cities. They are classically English. It was a lovely day with great walks, antique shopping, and another visit to an olde-time candy store. After the best day of the trip, we made the drive back to London.

Day 10: Mom and I were incredibly lucky to have the opening of the Buckingham Palace state rooms opening coincide with our last day in London. We were all over that. We had a fabulous experience touring the mews (where they keep the carriages and horses), Queen's gallery, and parts of Buckingham Palace. No photography was allowed in the palace, but just know that it is ornately spectacular. We celebrated with one last Cornish Pasty (favorite food in London) and stocked up on digestives before making our last Tube trip back to Heathrow and a flight back to Newark then on to Salt Lake.

Afterthoughts: I realized I'm wearing the same hoodie in like every picture. Nice. Mom and I went to London totally expecting warm summer weather. This just is not the reality. London is cold. And so rainy. While I remembered my umbrella, I impressively left my jacket on the driveway in Utah as I was rushing to get to the airport. Luckily Mom took two jackets on account of her propensity to always be cold. Thankfully she let me use one since I literally hadn't even packed a long sleeve shirt. Learn from my experience and when going to London, take warm clothes, even in July.

Ode to a Miracle Product

2009-10-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

How miraculous, you ask? Miraculous enough that I am taking my break between class and homework to share my news with you-- even after realizing I still haven't posted my summer trip pictures yet!

The story begins last weekend when I had a finger nail polish disaster. Disaster is an understatement because you're likely envisioning knocking over an open bottle. It was a fiasco. I'm talking I went to shake the bottle, but the lid was not screwed on, so nearly half the bottle flew out in a long stream of dark, dark purple/red. All over me, clothes, table, and the carpet (shhhh). In a panic, I tried the age-old trick of finger nail polish remover, but it really did nothing except smear the problem.

I turned to the internet for help and found a forum post about a product called Motsenbocker's Lift Off #3. It's usually available at hardware stores, so I looked up the closing time of Lowe's and was relieved I had 20 minutes before closing (for future reference, it closes at 10:00). I rushed there. No luck. Rushed to Wal-Mart. Again, no luck. My last chance was Home Depot, but it was closed by then, so I went there Monday after class and finally had some good luck-- they had it.

As summed by the title, it's a miracle in a bottle. It took the smeary mess right out of the carpet. The jury's still out on my jeans, but I'll let you know the results.

So here's to you, Motsenbocker! Thanks for a great product.

Why Didn't I Think of That?!?

2009-08-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

First day of school and I'm avoiding homework and work by blogsurfing.... I'm just proud to be able to say it's not Facebook Tetris-- that addiction is so last year :) Anyway, whilst checking friends' blogs, I had on of those "No. Way. moments."

As a preface, for several of my former roommates or friends who hung out at my parents house while in high school, you may recall a mildly strange/bizarre habit I had/have of playing in melted candle wax. When I moved to BYU and my roommate, Amy, had a candle warmer, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven-- an invention that provides greater access to melted wax without the pesky, burning flame getting in the way!

Anyway, back to the story, Stephane's post includes a trip to San Antonio and a trip to (duh nuh nuh nuh) a place where you go to make wax molds of your hands!!! Seriously, why did I never think of the business opportunities stemming from my favorite pasttime?!

Now I have just one question: who wants to go on a roadtrip to San Antonio to fulfill with me a life dream I never knew I had? :)

Hold On To Your Seats...

2009-08-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a whirlwind.... lots of catch up, but I gotta get through this to get to my favorite post :)

* Made it to the half-way point in grad school! Amazing how fast it goes. One more year to go...

* At the end of the semester, I participated in the Utah City Managers Association case competition. UCMA releases the case, your team has two weeks to do a crazy amount of work and prep and you present to the case Board and other city managers. The BYU MPA team was amazing! Lots of collaboration and contribution and the happy news....

We brought home the trophy!

* June brings graduation and my youngest sister Natalie made that big leap out of compulsory education. For the family party, I wanted to make cupcakes. I don't get creative bouts very often, but I love how they turned out. I felt like Rachel, Suzannah, and Martha Stewart all in one (these are the domestic divas I look to in my life)

* Memorial Day (guess that's out of order as May precedes June, oh well). I made a last minute trip to Vegas with my mom and Michelle. The purpose of the trip: get away for the long weekend, but primarily to see The Lion King which just opened at Mandalay Bay. It is spectacular! I'm also happy to report that I no longer hate Las Vegas-- it's growing on me.
* June also brought a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Selin. Someday I may learn my lesson that when Grandma is town, stay away from the Quilt Shops-- better for my time schedule and bank account. However, this was not that day. I went intending to find some cute flannels, and instead fell in love (again) with a new Moda line.... and a pattern. Seriously though, I love quilting with Grandma. I love learning from the best. Here's my quilt top (still needs a red border-- I'll get to it someday)

* Summer brings internships. I have been interning for the State at the Division of Housing and Community Development. I have certainly learned a lot about affordable housing initiatives and assistance programs the State provides. I will have to post later about the many lessons I've learned. I also continue to do administrative assistant work, too. With everything that's happened this summer in Utah politics, it's definitely been exciting.

Tribute to my Grandpa

2009-06-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

I know I have a whole lot of catching up to do, but most importantly right now, I want to pay tribute to my Grandpa Ossmen who passed away Monday night. At President Hinckley's funeral, I remember one of his daughters saying that her dad was a pretty cute old man. I have to say the same for my Grandpa. He was a remarkable person. I see his immense strength in the fact that he lost all of his family by the time he was 24, yet went on to be happy and successful. I think as a result of this, family was everything to him and over the last week especially, I've realized just how close my extended family is. We are a great support for one another-- something I think is directly attributable to my grandparents. I admire him for hanging in there so long to take care of my Grandma. My favorite pictures of Grandpa are the ones when my grandparents were dating and in so many he is looking so lovingly at my Grandma. My Grandpa was a great example of love, service, great work ethic and had a strong testimony of prayer and tithing.

I am grateful for the support Grandpa was to me as he and Grandma were there at every piano recital, every singing group performance, graduations, and school programs. He was also so encouraging of me in my education (my fellow Cougar fan!!). My favorite memories will always be of our great family parties and Grandpa reading the Bible Christmas story every Christmas Eve. I'll also always remember when I was about 6 years old and he said I was stubborn. In my 6-year-old mind, I thought this was like calling someone a bad name and took offense (thus exhibiting said stubborness). Now as I look back, I like to think my stubborness came, at least in part, from Grandpa :) We're just strong-willed. Grandpa, I love you and will miss you, but am so happy for the opportunity you have to be reunited with your parents and brother.

Catching Up on my Life

2009-01-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

So I'm doing a little catch up. What else is new? Since my last post...

I survived my first semester of grad school! Hooray! I'm told continually that the first semester is the hardest, so it feels like an accomplishment it's done. This semester I had the privilege to be part of team Trofast (shout out, guys). Sadly I don't have any pictures-- actually I'm realizing I really do not have pictures of anything from last semester-- guess I didn't do very well taking my camera with me. Anyway, it was a great team and while we had our rough patches, we made it through. And what's more, we aced our final Econ project! (if you had told me that was going to happen earlier this semester, I NEVER would have believed you) Other memorable projects were taking pictures for our "Junior's Day" montage and hammering out our IHC project-- both of them-- literally right before it was due. I think more than our academic conquests, I will more likely remember the fun meetings in the "bat cave" (Scott's basement) and being inducted as "one of the guys"-- I didn't grow up with brothers, so that was an adventure! I'll also remember the hilarity that was Scott's stories... that made me laugh uncontrollably :)

The holidays were wondeful. And welcome breaks from school. Thanksgiving I spent with my mom's family. I painted a picture of a turkey for a game of 'pin the feather on the turkey.' I wish I had a picture of it... oh well. That did make me decide I need more creative outlet projects as I really enjoyed painting it and loved my little Tom Turkey. Christmas break was even better because I didn't have to worry about final projects. I also have no pictures of Christmas Day. None. Seriously, that's slacking. Early Christmas morning I helped with a service project with my family and we got home, spent about an hour opening presents and all went back to bed. This year does mark a milestone in my life-- the first year my mom did not videotape my sisters and me coming down the stairs on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought us. For the record, I'm 22 years old.

I saw another musical! The Light in the Piazza at Pioneer Theater Company. It was wonderful and had such beautiful music. It definitely made me want to go to Italy! I had looked at show tickets for about two weeks. Then the second to last day of finals, I looked again, saw five fantastic seats (one for each of my family) available, bought them, studied/learned everything for my last final, packed for Christmas break, took my last final, got the best score of all my finals, and made it to Salt Lake-- all in the space of five hours! Seriously, I was impressed myself :)

So I'm now two weeks into a new semester. I was sitting in class last week and felt really excited about what I was learning. You know, that feeling where you're learning something that's not particularly exciting (in my case it was performance measurement) but it just makes you happy inside because in some weird way, it's like the coolest thing you've ever learned. I realized it had been a long time since I felt like that. So I'm happy to be in classes again that I can get excited about.

I'm looking forward to the start of a new Legislative session where I get to help again (seriously, has it been a year already?!). I'm also looking forward to days of warmth. Anyone else sick of winter? I know we're barely half way through January, but really, I'm ready for spring :)

What a Ride!!

2008-11-06T23:14:00.001-08:00

It's Thursday night and I feel the most relaxed I have literally for weeks! I have a few pending assignments, but no pressing deadlines-- which hasn't happened since the beginning of October. I'm enjoying the break. I know another reason for my relative stress-free time is that elections are over!! Since interning at the Utah Legislature, I have worked for Rep. Greg Hughes doing administrative stuff; it has been a great few-hours-per-week job-- until the beginning of this month when trumped up ethics charges were brought against him (as an aside, I now think of the word "ethics" as profanity-- I seriously hate that word). Since the middle of October, this election has all but consumed my life. I don't know what I thought campaigning was, but I assure you it isn't what I've been doing for the past couple weeks. As a little glimpse, I have:

- Hand-addressed around 600 envelopes
- Stickered around 1,500 door hangers
- Walked 5 neighborhoods
- Stuffed and stamped hundreds of letters
- Gone 42 hours with getting only two hours of sleep (thank goodness for Diet Coke)
- Worked out of the back of a truck in a parking lot in West Valley at night to continue stuffing and stamping letters to be handed to the post man as he’s walking to the door so they would go out the next day (that was actually an adventure I will never forget…)

And I assure you my efforts significantly pale in comparison to those of many. Needless to say, this campaign has been a whirlwind education. I am so grateful for the opportunity, however. I met and worked with so many truly great people. I learned so much about what goes into a campaign-- both the good and bad. I gained a sincere appreciation for anyone who is willing to put their neck on the line and run for office. While it's been a great experience, I am glad it's over. It was nerve-racking on election night as we watched the numbers come in, but also the sweetest victory as we saw that all of that work payed off!!

Update

2008-10-11T22:27:00.000-07:00

I will make this a combination of things I've been meaning to post on. First of all, I need to get this tag thing done that Linz made me do. It's actually been sitting in my email since I wrote it up during my summer job, but the one time I tried to post it, my computer literally died right before I went to hit the 'post' button. So here it is: (btw, these survey things are my favorite... yeah, not so much)

Joys:
(1) Learning. Be it by reading, lectures, travel, experience, example, personal relationships—I find learning invigorating and I love it.
(2) Nature. Especially looking at the stars. Which actually reminds me of a funny memory... looking at stars for Linz's astronomy(?) project at Rock Canyon Park and almost being run over by a giant tractor tire... sorry for the tangent, but good times :)
(3) Nielsen's Frozen Custard. If you haven't ever tried it, it is a must before you die. I recommend a concrete with cherries and almonds, but that's just a personal preference-- anything you choose would be delicious.

Fears:
(1) Failure. I would guess that this is not a unique fear, but succeeding and approval from others I think is one of my most motivating factors.
(2) Aliens. I have still never seen the movie ET because it freaks me out. Stories, shows, and movies involving extra terrestrials give me nightmares and still make it so that I have to fall asleep on my back so that I'll be able to see anything that could attack or something.
(3) Driving on Mountian Roads. When roads have a steep drop off to one side, I always feel like the car is going to fall off and roll down the mountain. Needless to say, I like it when DOT puts up guardrails.

Goals:
(1) Make it through grad school. While I am absolutely loving the MPA program so far, it is getting a lot more rigorous and crazy.
(2) To travel to all 50 United States. I think I've been to about 25 so far... so I'm like half way there.
(3) I have a terrible habit of always twirting my hair or playing with my earrings. I think it's becasue I always need to be fidgeting with something... but it is my goal to stop.

Obessions/Collections:
(1) Organization. Those who have lived with me will attest to this. I love organizing and getting rid of stuff—even other peoples' stuff. When I was in high school I semi-dreamed of being employed by the tv show Clean Sweep.
(2) Okay, I'll admit it. I love literary period dramas (usually BBC). Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Charles Dickens, George Eliot—I love them all. It may be my feminine sensibilities shining through, but who wouldn't love great entertainment filled with romance, intrigues, and subtle (or not so subtle) critiques of social problems?
(3) I don't really have collections of anything [see first Obsession], but I guess you could say I collect charms as that's often what I buy from the places I visit to add to a charm bracelet my grandma gave me years ago.

Surprising Facts:
(1) I am not an outwardly confrontational person, in fact I generally avoid confrontation. But by nature I think I am very argumentative. While I don't usually don't engage in outward confrontation, inside my head is an entirely different story: I am always formulating debates, analyzing arguments, and rethinking conversations.
(2) I'm addicted to talk/news radio. I have been ever since I discovered the amazing radio feature on iTunes where you can listen to radio stations from all over the country. My favorite is the Washington Post channel. I'm not sure it's entirely helpful to hear the traffic reports from the beltway, but I love it!
(3) My latest topic of research has been food storage and survival. I have been reading a series of books, The Great and Terrible, that tell a story of the last days and some actually very plausible things that could happen in the US. The thing it makes me think of the most is how I would be prepared for such a situation. So if the US is ever attacked and terrorists knock out all power and computers in the country, stick with me. I can build a solar water still to purify drinking water cuz I learned how to by watching videos on YouTube :)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other thing I want to post about is my birthday. I know it was a little over a month ago, but look at this amazing cake Linz made for me. It's a fire! Seriously, how cool is that?!

July!!

2008-07-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

Finally! Yep, I know that's just what went through your mind :) I finally updated my blog-- but would like to point out, I'm still within the once-a-month range :) It has been a very busy summer, so I'll list some of the highlights:

1. First time in Vegas! Went with my family for the 4th of July and to see the musical, Jersey Boys (absolutely loved it!). It was hot! (110 degrees). The first night, I wasn't in the best mood and didn't like the city. I believe the thought that was going through my head was, "great, a homage to gambling, sex, and alcohol-- just what this world needs." The next night when I wasn't so hungry, tired, and ornery, it was a lot better. However, I decided it is a good thing I don't live in Vegas because I believe I have the potential to be a slot machine addict-- I had a fun late night with my mom. This also brings me to the 4th of July-- the best holiday of the year!! We decided not to stay in Vegas-- too hot and way too many people. We ended up in Cedar City at the Shakespearean Festival and instead of watching fireworks, enjoyed a great rendition of Taming of the Shrew. The play was great, but just not the same to celebrate the 4th with the Bard as to watch great fireworks.

2. I started a salsa class! As in the dance, not the Mexican condiment. It's been a lot of fun and while this is my first attempt at learning dance, I feel like I'm gradually getting the hang of it. When I move back to Provo in a month, I'm hoping to find a place that teaches lessons and/or just has a fun place to do salsa. If you know of any, let me know.

3. Also began an LSAT prep class. Law school has been a dream/goal since I was in high school, so I'm taking the beginning steps to get there. I don't know exactly what the future will bring, but I'll be able to say I don't have any regrets that I didn't try. And I love my class! It's a lot of fun and i actually look forward to it during the week! My favorite sections right now are the games and reading comp. sections. Over the past few weeks, I've been doing better and hopefully will continue to do so as I'm working to get faster.

4. The movie, Mamma Mia! came out last week! Listing this as a highlight of my summer may justify my obsession with Broadway shows. But this has been one of my favorite shows since I saw it in high school, so I was very excited. I must say, they did a good job. A lot of fun and if you like the music of Abba, I would totally recommend it!

5. I've also been on somewhat of a craft/cooking-spree lately. While surfing the links on Rachel's blog one day at my highly productive job, I found a pattern for the cutest baby dress. I immediately wanted to make it and luckily have one friend, Suzannah, who has a newborn baby girl. Luckily Lydia is still small enough that the pattern fits and she is adorable! This is a picture of how the dress turned out. There are a lot of other little projects and recipes that I found and would love to do-- if I get to them, I'll post more pictures.

Back for a Utah Summer!

2008-06-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went on a YSA camping trip at the Heber YW camp. It was a fabulous time. There was a campfire and I learned a new pyro trick using corn starch-- enough said, it was a good time :) Saturday morning, however, we woke up to this:
The bottom picture say "June 6." It was good packing snow, not good write-with-your-finger-in-it snow. Ahh, Utah weather!

GRADUATION!!!

2008-04-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

Thursday and Friday of this past weeek were graduation!! And I'm thrilled! I ran into a friend after Commencement who told me I haven't bee n a student for like a year; I told him I was a full-fledged student up until Tuesday when I found out I passed my Indepent Study class from hell. But it's done, yay! It felt great-- as I was sitting through the ceremony I was remembering how high school graduation didn't really feel like a big deal and realized this graduation felt a lot more significant. I feel like I'm glutton for punishment as I'm heading back in the Fall, but for the summer at least, I'm relishing in the feeling of no homework/papers/exams/whatever!

The classic BYU grad shot

Beautiful flowers sent by my grandparents in Atlanta who weren't able to make it out to Utah.

All's Well in the World

2008-03-11T11:15:00.000-07:00

So I feel like all's well in the world again because I have a set direction and life plan for for the next little while. Yesterday I found out I was accepted to the BYU MPA program. It was a little nerve racking because I got an email from the Marriott School saying I should have received a message regarding my application status, but I hadn't. So I called the program advisor who told me this is going to be really anticlimactic, but they will send a letter saying 'congratulations, you're accepted' tomorrow. Oh well, I was just glad to find out because it's been like Limbo waiting for the past month. And I get to return back to my home sweet home, the Tanner Building. Yay!

New Beginning

2008-03-05T21:58:00.000-08:00

As I type I am sitting in the Utah State Capitol on the last night of the session (and therefore my internship). It's been an 18 hour day, so I'm exhausted, but thoroughly grateful for the experience I've had working here. I'm also amazed at how quickly 45 days passes! I think more than anything, working at the Capitol has reaffirmed my love for government. I find the legislative process utterly amazing-- and even more amazing that bills are passed through and governmental progress is made. I've had more insight into the process of law making than I could have imagined, and it's incredible. I feel sad that just as I feel like I'm getting the hang of working here, it's over. But that's how most things are, I guess.

As this experience ends, I'm also pretty reluctant to realize that this is it. This is the final part of my undergradute experience and that feels really strange to think I'm done. It's kind of like in two hours I will enter the "real world" -- (though I always hated when my professors used that phrase in classes). I'm sure it's no different than a birthday when you wake up and are another year older, but don't feel significantly different. Regardless, it's the turning of a page in life. So tomorrow begins a new stage (...ie looking for a job... joy).

[isn't the Capitol beautiful?-- picture is of the rotunda]

Update for the New Year

2008-01-08T22:38:00.000-08:00

So I happened upon Ashley's comment a few days ago, and it's true, this update is *shamefully* overdue. It even took me a while to remember how to make a new post (I know, bad). But a quick summary since the last post: I stayed on at my internship over the summer at the Dept. of Ag in DC which was so great! My biggest feat there was getting the signatures of 13 ageny heads on a project-- while it seems relatively simple, that was by far the hardest thing in my eight months there. I traveled to the Hill Cummorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York City when my sisters visited me in DC, Boston to visit friends and ended up having a fantastic side excursion to Maine, and Atlanta to visit my family there. I then came back to Utah to finish my last semester of classes at BYU and had a crazy busy, but great time. Overall, 2007 was an utterly fantastic year! Last week I quit my job at Independent Study a day early (extreme happiness for me!) and my mom, sister, and I went up to Rexburg to go through the temple open house (picture). It was absolute beautiful! I've since moved back home (still adjusting) and I'm looking forward to an internship at the Utah State Legislature starting later this month... I'll for sure post pictures from that!

The Big Easy

2007-05-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

In May I got to go on my first ever businesss trip to New Orleans. I went down with a group of co-workers for a couple days of conferences at the National Finance Center. It was such a great learning
experience as well as fun to see the city and try the fantastic food they have there! These are some sites from Canal Street, where we stayed. One of the most interesting things to see down there was the damage that is still there from Katrina. Driving on the highway, you can still see devastated neighborhoods that are uninhabited. They're like modern ghost towns-- it's very weird. On the drive home one day, we saw a neighborhood that flooded just from one afternoon of rain; it was a very humbling sight.

These are some sites from the famous French Quarter. St. Louis Cathedral with Jefferson Square in the foreground and an example of classic New Orleans architecture. The Quarter was a really cool place to see with all the shops and restaurants. I didn't dare wander down Bourbon Street by myself, but the rest of the Quarter that I saw was very neat.

Home Again, Home Again

2007-05-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

I was able to make it home for a few days to visit people and take care of some business at school. It was a quick trip, but wondeful to be home :) I was lucky to be home the same weekend as my friend Charlotte's farewell talk in her student ward. After her talk, I wet to see Temple Square and the flowers were so beautiful.

Probably the highlight and my favorite... fire in Provo Canyon. We built that baby with no lighter fluid!! I picked up a few skills at Girls' Camp :)

Barlowites in Provo. From the look of my face, Aaron just said something incredibly shocking and D Scott either ate something sour or just hates the flash. Lindy's thinking hard about the roasting job she's about to attempt :)
Aww, keeping warm
An attrocity of the worst kind... cinnamon bears are better than that.
I like to call this 'el disgustingo.' Combination s'more, roasted cinnamon bear, and Starburst. Proud of ya, Stephane.

Whirlwind Tour of the East Coast

2007-05-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

At the end of April, my mom came to pick me up in DC after my internship ended (well for the semester anyway, as I'm now continuing it through the summer). We had a wonderful time seeing the sites of the East from the fields of Amish country and Palmyra to the opposite end of the spectrum, NYC. The monuments of the National Mall by night... stunning.

Our next stop was Lancaster, PA, home of the Amish.
Monday must be wash day; there were lines of clothes everywhere that made for colorful displays of traditional Amish colors.
We enjoyed a nice ride on part of the beautifully restored Pennsylania Railroad.

My mom in our Amish buggy ride (and our guide who was so adorable)
Couldn't pass up a tour of "Chocolate World" in Hershey, PA!
Beautiful Niagara Falls, still with a lot of ice. Also my first time setting foot outside of the US (I'm on the Canada side here, quite exciting!)

We also made a stop in Palmyra, NY to see the church history sites. What a wonderfully amazing place!
Me and my mom in the Whitmer cabin, where the first meeting of the Church was held. It's amazing to think that room is where it all started.
Umm, yes, we're in NYC and this is what we do for hours... gawk at the American Girl Doll store. Yes, I'm 20; yes I had to wait in a line of 8 year olds to get my picture taken; and yes, I bought a new dress for my doll... which she looks pretty darn cute in, if I do say so myself.
Love of my life, Broadway. We were able to see Disney's production of Tarzan and it was amazing!! Needless to say, I loved every minute!

Baaarloooowwww!!

2007-05-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

As of 4/21 I officially no longer live in the stake center/fishbowl known as the Barlow Center. It's a sad time, this has been the home of one of the best experiences ever! As someone far more journalistically savvy than I put it, don't be sad that it's over, but happy that it happened. I'm definitely happy it happened. Everyone
Ahh, hanging out in the hall :)
Last hurrah at Five Guys

Being Spontaneous, Yay!

2007-05-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

So I'm doing a little catch up, but this is a little bit of what I did over Easter weekend. I had a great time going on a spontaneous roadtrip with my friend /big sister Emily to visit her cousin in Roanoke, VA. On the way down, we stopped in Charlottesville to visit Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson.

For most of the drive down this is what we saw... farms and fields and cows. It was very picturesque.
We came across some funny signs, but this was our favorite... Tinkling Spring Rd. :)

Another interesting sight. This truck had maybe 100 fire hydrants on it.
We had a great time hiking part of the Appalachian trail to McGhaffe's Knob. Here's us on the knob.
Emily and her cousin Mei in front of Mei's cute cottage.
Beautiful springtime! There were dogwoods all over!

Cherry Blossoms

2007-03-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

Spring in Washington DC is absolutely stunning! It seems like every tree is bursting with blooms. The famous cherry blossoms on the Mall are also in bloom! Here are a few shots...

(these are actually Magnolia blooms at Lafayette Park)
On Friday morning, a group of us interns headed down to the Tidal Basin bright and early to see the blossoms at sunrise. It was incredible! Someone had set up the table in the picture below along the water. It was ready for a romantic breakfast amidst the blossoms. So cute!

Every year there is a three-week Cherry Blossom Festival. Saturday I had a great time volunteering at the family fun event. Afterwards, Elena and I headed out to watch the kite festival on the Mall. There were literally hundreds of kites flying at the same time all around the Washington Monument, it was an amazing sight!

Me and Elena watching the kite competition

One fantastically fabulous weekend!

2007-03-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

This weekend was one of the best of this semester! For our Friday briefings, we went to Capitol Hill to hear from Bob King, Chief of Staff for Representative Tom Lantos; Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader; and Eni Faleomavaega, Representative for American Samoa. It was pretty incredible. We also got to watch the Senate Gallery votes going on at the time, so I saw Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Edwards, McCain, and many others. Just amazing. That night, our group was graciously invited to a reception by Cambodian Ambassador Ek at his embassy. It was so neat! There was great (different) Cambodian food and an awesome performance of traditional Cambodian dancing. Saturday, our group took a day trip to Gettysburg and Harper's Ferry. So much cool stuff in one weekend! And to top it all off, spring has sprung, along with all the daffodils, magnolia trees, and cherry blossoms. Everything is so beautiful!

This is Representative Faleomavaega and Bob King. Both gave excellent seminars about issues they're facing at work, as well as gave a perspective of what it's like to be a member of the Church in public service.
A hall in the Senate side of the Capitol. It's so beautifully ornate.Inside the office of Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (not too shabby, eh?)

Sorry, I know this is blurry, but it's the only picture I have of us at the Cambodian embassy. I think it may be blurry because Ambassador Ek's son shot Ben, our picture-taker, with his disc gun, haha.
Christine ("the giant") with the adorable Cambodian dancers.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

The Valley of Death at Gettysburg

"An Enduring Light to Guide Us in Unity and Fellowship"

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia

This is a view of the main street. It's a small city that's been kept the same as it was during Civil War times.

The Keepers of the Cemetery/ stars of the upcoming feature "The sweet boys of summer III:The Harper Cemetery and RC Cola"

Lindy and Christine "trying" to climb Jefferson Rock

Excursions!

2007-03-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

While being here in DC, I've been really lucky to take some fun side trips. As a class, we were able to go to Philadelphia and see where the government began. It was like a true political science-style pilgramage... complete with a showing of the BYU production "A More Perfect Union" on the bus ride there, and topped off with a presentation of the George Washington impersonator during our stay at the Freedoms Foundation.

Me with the official life portrait of John Marshall. One of the true greats according to my high school history/law teacher (which I'm inclined to agree with :) )
The de-luxe accommodations at Valley Forge
All the Barlow ladies with the Ladies' Liberty Bell.
Standing on the spot where Lincoln stood in front of Independence Hall. So cool.
Me and Ben

I was also able to go up to New York one weekend with some of my fellow Barlowites. We caught the Chinatown bus and had a wonderful time in the Big Apple!

We got to go to the New York Museum of Modern Art. There was some very interesting stuff, but we really weren't sure what to make of some of it...

Ethan and Ben showing a little excitement in Times Square

In our hostel room... it was a little sketchy, but really, not that bad.
Sheer excitement before seeing LES MIZ!! (with LEA SALONGA!)

Fun in the District of Columbia

2007-03-06T15:34:00.000-08:00

On Fridays we have guest speakers come from various places around Washington. One week we were able to go to HHS and listen to Mike Leavitt and his chief of staff, Rich McKeown. I was so excited because Leavitt was who I grew up knowing as the governor of Utah.

The last week of February it snowed a lot. We took advantage of it and had a way fun snowbal fight at the Lincoln Memorial.

Tatia, me, and Christine at the National Botanic Gardens.

I was able to go to the Washington DC temple with Tatia and Christine. It is absolutely beautiful!

Fun times at the National Zoo.

This was a group of friends in the elevator at the Old Post Office. It's taken in the reflection of the ceiling.

This is my excited face after getting my first package from home in college. When I was a freshman, I was the only one of my roommates who never got mail. I told my dad this and he said if I wanted mail, I should have gone out of state. Now they send me stuff :)

This is the Department of Agriculture South Building-- where I work.

The Barlow Center... where I eat, sleep, cook, go to class, go to Institute... pretty much everything

This semester I am living out my dream of participating in the BYU Washington Seminar Program; I think I've been planning this since I was a freshman. I am here doing an internship at the USDA Office of the Chief Financial Officer. I love it-- it's such an exciting place. These pictures are from some of my adventures here in our nation's capital.

100 Things About Me

2007-02-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Well, after seeing Linz and Ashley's lists, I decided I wanted to do it too. I didn't anticipate that it would take me as long as it did (like 5 days), but for my first blog post ever, here is the completed thing in all its glory!

1. I laugh a lot. Really a lot. Get me started and it goes on forever at an astounding volume.
2. I love hot chocolate. So much so that I’m contemplating making a morning 7 Eleven stop on the way to the metro so I can get a cup and fit in with everyone else at work who have their coffee cups.
3. I love Washington D.C. It’s such an amazing, exciting place.
4. I heard a funny quote today, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots.”
5. I am a newly established fan of the US Department of Agriculture. On the outside they may appear to be just meat inspectors, but trust me, they are much, much more.
6. I love writing with markers; and for some odd reason, my handwriting is always better when I use them.
7. I don’t find silence awkward. There can be awkward silences, but for the most part, I don’t mind it.
8. I really, really want to go to Newport, RI to see the mansions there from the Gilded Age.
9. If I could visit any country in the world it would be Italy… then Greece.
10. I love art history, hence the wanting to go to Italy and Greece.
11. When I was little one of my favorite things was paper. I liked to collect it. I still like paper.
12. I love the family farm in Bear Lake. I’ve spent every Memorial and Labor Day that I can remember there and want to for the rest of my life.
13. I love flowers.
14. I can often be very cheaply entertained… give me some bubble wrap and I’m good for at least an hour.
15. My favorite commercial in the world is the Sony Bravia bouncy ball advertisement. It’s amazing. (if you haven’t seen it, it’s on the web)
16. I tend to be a clumsy person… I have noticed that I’m not as bad now as I was in the past… maybe I’m becoming more graceful with age. Maybe.
17. I love learning new things. It’s so invigorating.
18. I have discovered that talking to random people is great. Often they are so eager to share things about themselves and what they do. You can learn a lot.
19. I hate grocery shopping a lot.
20. I have two younger sisters, Michelle and Natalie.
21. I am a daddy’s girl. Not in the snooty way; we’re just close.
22. One of the people I admire most is my mom—she’s so great!
23. I love organization, especially doing the organizing.
24. I think throwing stuff away (like clutter kind of stuff) is empowering and makes you feel better.
25. I have terrible karma with anything electronic. I am completely convinced that my computer at work hates me.
26. I love color. My favorite color depends on what something is. I don’t know about an overall favorite color.
27. My eyes are multi-colored. They even have gold/ brown spots in them.
28. I have an addiction to doing hand-stands.
29. I love looking at floor plan magazines.
30. I love the look of Southern houses, and architecture in general.
31. When I was little I wanted to be an artist, then a teacher, then a lawyer.
32. I am terrible at remembering to take my phone with me.
33. I have always loved school. When I was in 1st grade, my punishment was once to stay home from school. I still tried to make a break for the school bus, but I didn’t make it.
34. I LOVE musicals. When I’m listening to music, it’s usually a soundtrack from a musical.
35. My favorite season is fall.
36. I have always been young in my age group because I barely made the school year cut off.
37. I tend to fall asleep in movies.
38. I was a very dramatic child…in my head at least.
39. I am a very independent person, always have been.
40. My favorite holiday is the 4th of July-- I love the fireworks and everything about it!
41. I was born on Labor Day, haha.
42. I love Jane Austen novels… I even got the sheet music from the movies.
43. It takes me a while to become comfortable and open up to other people.
44. I love drinking water and usually have water bottles everywhere.
45. I really enjoy going to museums.
46. When I was little, I remember liking really small, confined spaces.
47. I think the inventor of Otter Pops deserves an award.
48. I like surprises, but I have the most fun snooping and finding out what the surprise is.
49. I love games and puzzles.
50. I also love crossword puzzles and when I lived at home, my dad and I would always do the Sunday morning crossword together.
51. I took piano lessons for twelve years—up until I graduated from high school.
52. I learned to love quilting from my grandma.
53. I’m not really an adrenaline junkie, but probably the most exhilarating thing I’ve ever done was the world’s tallest zip line at the Park City Olympic Park.
54. If I have a missed call on my phone from a number I don’t know, it drives me crazy.
55. I like doing calligraphy.
56. I have always had very dark, naturally curly hair. When I was born, my doctor thought I was an Indian.
57. Apparently when I was little I threw terrible tantrums, as my cousins who babysat me always remind me.
58. I love watching Jeopardy! I always wanted to be on the show when I was in high school.
59. I think lightning storms are the coolest thing to watch.
60. I am a pyro. I thoroughly enjoy playing with candles, campfires, and matches.
61. I love looking at the stars… they’re so amazing. That’s definitely the best part about camping.
62. I’ve been at BYU for three years now and still have never hiked the Y. I’m so bitter about that.
63. If there’s one thing I’ve mastered, it’s procrastination.
64. I am addicted to the game Spider Solitaire.
65. I love mint chocolate chip ice cream… actually, I really love pretty much anything mint flavored.
66. I think Excel spreadsheets are one of the greatest things ever invented!
67. I love watching the news.
68. I’m a pretty easy person to please.
69. I have a phobia of touching raw meat… I just can’t do it.
70. My favorite class I’ve ever taken was my flexibility class where I learned how to power nap… it was wonderful.
71. I love to sing out loud in the car. I’m definitely one of those people who look crazy jamming out by themselves that drive by you.
72. My favorite summertime activity is having waterfights outside. Although, my freshman year we had them inside too and it was just as much fun.
73. I adopted the life motto ‘crap of the cream’ from my high school English teacher.
74. I’ve only ever had one pet… it was a goldfish I got for serving at a neighbor’s wedding reception.
75. When I was little, I hated going to the babysitter, so one day I hid under the sink thinking that my mom would forget and leave without me so then I would be able to go play with my friends all afternoon.
76. I love pearls.
77. My favorite TV show is Extreme Makeover Home Edition and I camped out with Linz to see the unveiling when they were in Logan.
78. During my whole school career, I had to go to the principal’s office once—for prank calling from the office phone during an extracurricular party.
79. When I was little, I would turn off the light and literally have to jump onto my bed, for fear of scary things that were under the bed.
80. I was always on the front row end in all school pictures because I’m short.
81. In first grade, I remember asking my teacher how to spell the word ‘a.’ I still remember the look she gave me.
82. I always have to have my toenails painted… usually some shade of pink or red.
83. I’ve had the best luck and always had wonderful roommates who are some of my best friends ever.
84. I love going new places… it can be anywhere, I don’t care… traveling is fun!
85. Grammar mistakes drive me crazy; especially when people make ‘a lot’ one word. It is two words!
86. I can’t hold a straight face for anything.
87. I have a long list of embarrassing moments.
88. I couldn’t live without my planner or Post-It Notes
89. I don’t really like talking on the phone.
90. I think being barefoot is the best—more so in the summer than the winter, though.
91. I don’t like confrontation and try really hard to avoid it if at all possible.
92. I like walking… it’s a good chance to think and to relax.
93. When I was little I was afraid to eat fish because I thought it was gross that they were animals that had eyes and swam. I guess it never hit me that beef, bacon, etc. came from cows and pigs.
94. I believe chocolate, in some cases, is medicine.
95. I talk in my sleep. I have been told so by my roommates.
96. I have quite a few nicknames… among them: Gan, Megs, Dee, Beebee, and in 6th grade it was Gigglemonster.
97. My favorite word in the world is ‘ridiculoso.’
98. I know some Spanish, but not enough to say that I’m fluent. I would go so far as to say that I am fluent in Spanglish though.
99. I have two favorite phrases, it’s a tie between ‘is okay’ from Cala and ‘me dos’ from good old apartment 94.
100. I usually have other people write these kind of lists for me (e.g. ward directories, personal profiles, etc.) so this list took a ridiculous amount of time to do!